diet break/calorie suggestions
Jingsi84
Posts: 126 Member
I would like some advice estimating actual maintenance calories since I am starting a ten day diet break today.
I have only been logging/weighing for 7 weeks but lost about 10 pounds before that in about a month just by cutting back. (Chalked the first 10lbs up to newbie loses.) Since then, I've averaged out my weight loss over these past 7 weeks and I am losing 3 lbs/week. I know this is too fast a loss (with 32 lbs more to lose) but I have MFP settings at .8 loss per week. MFP gives me a calorie goal of 1200/day which is clearly too low but I easily average that by the end of the week without experiencing an ounce of hunger/fatigue. I've listed my activity as sedentary because I sit at a desk 9 hours a day and read 4 hours at night but apparently I'm somehow at least lightly active. I don't work out, I'm 5'1.5", 42 years old and weigh 144.
My question is, if I add back 1500 calories/day to account for my 3lb/week weight loss, I would be eating about 2700 calories a day for maintenance but this seems insane for my stats. I want to get as close to maintenance as possible to optimize my diet break, though, and of course to figure out what my calorie goal should be moving forward. Thanks for any advice!
I have only been logging/weighing for 7 weeks but lost about 10 pounds before that in about a month just by cutting back. (Chalked the first 10lbs up to newbie loses.) Since then, I've averaged out my weight loss over these past 7 weeks and I am losing 3 lbs/week. I know this is too fast a loss (with 32 lbs more to lose) but I have MFP settings at .8 loss per week. MFP gives me a calorie goal of 1200/day which is clearly too low but I easily average that by the end of the week without experiencing an ounce of hunger/fatigue. I've listed my activity as sedentary because I sit at a desk 9 hours a day and read 4 hours at night but apparently I'm somehow at least lightly active. I don't work out, I'm 5'1.5", 42 years old and weigh 144.
My question is, if I add back 1500 calories/day to account for my 3lb/week weight loss, I would be eating about 2700 calories a day for maintenance but this seems insane for my stats. I want to get as close to maintenance as possible to optimize my diet break, though, and of course to figure out what my calorie goal should be moving forward. Thanks for any advice!
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Replies
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What does MFP say your maintenance calories should be? I put your stats in a TDEE calculator and it said your maintenance calories are 1520. I’m not sure how you got to add 1500 back. You’d be regaining weight eating that much.1
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Did you try changing your MFP settings to maintain? that would be the easiest way to see what calories it puts you at.
At your height and weight its highly unlikely that 2700 is maintenance. I'm 1" taller/48, lightly active and I maintain at around 2000.1 -
I plugged t]your stats into a TDEE calculator and got 1719 at sedentary and 1970 at lightly active. I'd do 2000 and see what happens. The rate of loss is surprising. Are you confident your logging, weighing and measuring are accurate?2
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What does MFP say your maintenance calories should be? I put your stats in a TDEE calculator and it said your maintenance calories are 1520. I’m not sure how you got to add 1500 back. You’d be regaining weight eating that much.
If I'm losing 3 lbs/week eating 1200 calories, it would seem to me I'm at a 1500 deficit and for maintenance I would add that back, no?
@RunRutheeRun I did change MFP to maintenance and it made my new goal 1570 but that doesn't seem high enough given that I've been losing weight fast eating just 370 calories less than that.
@mmapags Thanks for running my stats through another calculator. They all seem to give me different info. I'll try 2000 and see what happens. I have a food scale but I do eat out a lot and trust the restaurant's nutritional info which I understand can be off... still I can't imagine being off almost twice what I eat but I suppose that is a possibility. I'm a big fidget-er so maybe I burn a lot more than I realize? Also I've been nearly the same weight for 20 years until I had to start taking meds for depression and gained 60lbs in about 18 months. I know its contrary to the law of thermodynamics but ever heard of anyone losing faster because they gained so fast through meds? Like maybe the 60lbs wasn't all fat?
Thanks for all the advice!1 -
I agree with using what mfp calculates as maintenance (including eating exercise calories). I've done 2 diet breaks that way. I gained water weight that quickly left after going back to a deficit. If you feel that might be a little low, add a couple hundred calories. Even if you end up eating like 200 above maintenance every day, that's going to equal less than a pound after 10 days.
One of the advantages of a diet break is to destress mentally. I wouldn't worry too much about being slightly over or under. Getting a truly accurate idea of daily tdee takes trial and error and at least a few months of data, imo.2 -
Something definitely seems off about your numbers. However...it's only a 10 day diet break, so even if you went a little over your maintenance, you can only do so much damage in that amount of time. If it were me, I'd probably shoot for about 2000 calories and see how you feel there.2
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Thanks everyone! Sounds like I just need to keep plugging along until I get more data to figure out my actual TDEE and in the meantime I will shoot for 2000 maintenance.3
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I took a maintenance break for the holidays from Thanksgiving all the way up until New year's day. I ate around 1600-1900 calories (I usually averaged about 1750) I also did NOT workout because I wanted a break from it. I have been logging and working out since May. I gained and lost the same pound the entire time. Also I'm 5'1 150# if that helps any? Since going back to my normal routine of cutting back on food and working out I've dropped the stubborn 3# I was holding onto before the maintenance break. Use a TDEE calculator to determine what your maintenance calories are and go from there? Best of luck!!1
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I took a maintenance break for the holidays from Thanksgiving all the way up until New year's day. I ate around 1600-1900 calories (I usually averaged about 1750) I also did NOT workout because I wanted a break from it. I have been logging and working out since May. I gained and lost the same pound the entire time. Also I'm 5'1 150# if that helps any? Since going back to my normal routine of cutting back on food and working out I've dropped the stubborn 3# I was holding onto before the maintenance break. Use a TDEE calculator to determine what your maintenance calories are and go from there? Best of luck!!
Thanks @NR81206 We are almost stats twins! This makes me feel a lot better.1 -
have you drastically cut your carbs? the amount of weight loss seems extreme given your stats1
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I would go with 2k as a reasonable assumption and if trending weight and daily weigh ins continued to drop would increase from that.
Would be tempted to just prolong the break to find how high of a maintenance I could get to (Science experiments) before cutting 500 cal from that.
If TOM had taken place in the past few weeks you cannot be sure without 4-6 weeks of weigh in data how much of your weight movement was water weight. Same goes if you were low carbing.
Hence go with a reasonable 2k. Even if you gain a tiny bit, it won't be much. And if you're still losing, more power to ya.... budget more money for even more food
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JerSchmare wrote: »1500 maintenance.
3lbs over 7 weeks is about half lb per week. So, your only in a deficit of about 250 per day, give or take.
She's been averaging 3 lbs per week, not 3 lbs over the 7 weeks total.4 -
Keep good data for when you resume your deficit (if you choose to do that).1
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Nony_Mouse wrote: »JerSchmare wrote: »1500 maintenance.
3lbs over 7 weeks is about half lb per week. So, your only in a deficit of about 250 per day, give or take.
She's been averaging 3 lbs per week, not 3 lbs over the 7 weeks total.
Obviously if there is trust that the weight loss has really happened at that rate the diet break recommendation would be the 2500+ (2700 was it?).
Without reading back on the phone I am going with 10k because I "heard" 10 days of data, which obviously is not quite enough.
If it is 10 weeks (embarassing that I flubbed that) if would seem our op is quite an outlier or overlogging. Regardless, she then ought to go for the higher number while keeping her logging method consistent.
Curious to find out what op went with and the resukts!!!!4 -
Nony_Mouse wrote: »JerSchmare wrote: »1500 maintenance.
3lbs over 7 weeks is about half lb per week. So, your only in a deficit of about 250 per day, give or take.
She's been averaging 3 lbs per week, not 3 lbs over the 7 weeks total.
Obviously if there is trust that the weight loss has really happened at that rate the diet break recommendation would be the 2500+ (2700 was it?).
Without reading back on the phone I am going with 10k because I "heard" 10 days of data, which obviously is not quite enough.
If it is 10 weeks (embarassing that I flubbed that) if would seem our op is quite an outlier or overlogging. Regardless, she then ought to go for the higher number while keeping her logging method consistent.
Curious to find out what op went with and the resukts!!!!
Planning a 10 day diet break (I think that's where your 10 days comes from?), logging and weighing for 7 weeks, average of 3 lbs per week. But yes, quite the outlier or over logger if that is the case.
OP, I would also go with the 2000 cals per day. Normally you would see a small uptick on the scale in the first few days from additional food in your system and glycogen replenishment. If you continue to lose weight, I would consider extending your diet break and increasing cals some more.5 -
Thanks for your replies everyone! Apart from desperately trying to get enough protein (as a vegetarian) I don't pay much attention to macros. I mostly eat carbs though, so I'm definitely not low carb. I have been logging for 7 weeks and have been very careful about weighing everything when I don't eat out. I upped my status to "lightly active" to account for a higher than expected weight loss.
I chickened out and rather than setting my goal at 2000 cal/day I followed what MFP now recommends (at "lightly active") which is 1750. That said, for the past 5 days I have stayed stable (144.4, 143.4, 144.8, 144.4, 144.6) even though I haven't been weighing anything b/c I've been eating out and also stuffing my face. So it is likely I am actually eating closer to 2000+ cal/day. I've read that many gain around 3 pounds when on a diet break (b/c water and belly food) so I'm considering adding more calories to work up to a slight gain. @PAV888 I like the suggestion of going longer than 10 days to get a better handle on my TDEE and maybe it'll do more to reverse adaptive thermogenesis. Anyway, yay diet breaks and science! And yay everyone for your advice!3 -
Without reading back on the phone I am going with 10k 2K because I "heard" 10 days of data, which obviously is not quite enough.
If it is 10 7 weeks (embarassing embarrassing that I flubbed that) if it would seem [that] our op is quite an outlier or overlogging. Regardless, she then ought to go for the higher number while keeping her logging method consistent.
Curious to find out what op went with and the resukts results!!!!
Sigh. Not a good phone day so far today! Some small fixes!
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Is it likely that a 144-pound, 5'1.5", 42-year-old woman's sedentary maintenance is 2700 calories? No. In fact, it's very unlikely.
But is it possible? I'd say yes, definitely.
Why? Partly because I, at my current weight (just over 130 post-holidays), 5'5", age 62, maintain around 2200 net, and I'm much older, 10+ pounds lighter, and retired (sedentary outside intentional exercise - I'd be surprised if I get more than 1000 steps most days). I'm not overlogging; I eat quite a bit, and I'm quite meticulous about logging it. I eat back all exercise, and any unusual vigorous daily-life activity besides. MFP says I'd maintain somewhere around 1500 net. I lost much of 50+ pounds, some of it rapidly, on 1500+. I am a bit of an outlier, it seems.
I'm commenting because I see a trend among some people on this thread to disbelieve that such a thing is even possible, and to say that MFP will accurately tell each of us our maintenance calories. Putting it in the plainest possible terms: It won't, and it doesn't.
Rather, MFP will give each of us an estimate, using a formula based on statistical analysis of a research population. For the overwhelming majority of people, this estimate will be pretty darned close. For a few, it will be noticeably wrong - high or low. For a very, very few, it will be rather dramatically wrong. That's just how the statistics work.
Don't believe me? Read this:
https://examine.com/nutrition/does-metabolism-vary-between-two-people/6 -
So... yes, everything Ann said is true.
I still think 7 weeks might be a bit short, as it would only cover one monthly cycle not 2, and i would think that any associated water retention plus eating out water retention could potentially complicate weight measurement.
There is zero reason to not be starting at at least 2000 calories and every reason to be pushing for more than that until you see a steady weight trend level increase for more than a week! @heybales might have some input on how to best determine top maintenance calories?
I am sure happy scale, Libra and weightgrapher would all allow you to input older weigh ins to establish your weight trendline starting with older data.
And since fitbit.com also lets you enter arbitrary past weigh-in days and you can force Trendweight.com to re-download your complete scale weight history from Fitbit, yes I would go back and observe my trending weight changes and if confident in my loging base my decisions off of that.3 -
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So... yes, everything Ann said is true.
I still think 7 weeks might be a bit short, as it would only cover one monthly cycle not 2, and i would think that any associated water retention plus eating out water retention could potentially complicate weight measurement.
There is zero reason to not be starting at at least 2000 calories and every reason to be pushing for more than that until you see a steady weight trend level increase for more than a week! @heybales might have some input on how to best determine top maintenance calories?
I am sure happy scale, Libra and weightgrapher would all allow you to input older weigh ins to establish your weight trendline starting with older data.
And since fitbit.com also lets you enter arbitrary past weigh-in days and you can force Trendweight.com to re-download your complete scale weight history from Fitbit, yes I would go back and observe my trending weight changes and if confident in my loging base my decisions off of that.
I basically agree with you, PAV, and @mmapags, that 7 weeks is short and 2000 might be a reasonable start, and should've said so.
I'm afraid I was (over-?)reacting to the tone of some of the other replies. Skepticism is reasonable, but some others' cries of "impossible" and "use the MFP maintenance estimate" seem unreasonable in context, to me.
If OP keeps seeing losses of the magnitude she reports, I think she should eat more while losing: I cut too low based on MFP's estimate briefly when I got here, and felt good while doing it . . . until I didn't. It took several more weeks to recover. Losing too fast is a Bad Thing, and one's own/others' quasi-religious belief in the "calculators" is a risk factor.
Apologies for the rant(s).6 -
So... yes, everything Ann said is true.
I still think 7 weeks might be a bit short, as it would only cover one monthly cycle not 2, and i would think that any associated water retention plus eating out water retention could potentially complicate weight measurement.
There is zero reason to not be starting at at least 2000 calories and every reason to be pushing for more than that until you see a steady weight trend level increase for more than a week! @heybales might have some input on how to best determine top maintenance calories?
I am sure happy scale, Libra and weightgrapher would all allow you to input older weigh ins to establish your weight trendline starting with older data.
And since fitbit.com also lets you enter arbitrary past weigh-in days and you can force Trendweight.com to re-download your complete scale weight history from Fitbit, yes I would go back and observe my trending weight changes and if confident in my loging base my decisions off of that.
I basically agree with you, PAV, and @mmapags, that 7 weeks is short and 2000 might be a reasonable start, and should've said so.
I'm afraid I was (over-?)reacting to the tone of some of the other replies. Skepticism is reasonable, but some others' cries of "impossible" and "use the MFP maintenance estimate" seem unreasonable in context, to me.
If OP keeps seeing losses of the magnitude she reports, I think she should eat more while losing: I cut too low based on MFP's estimate briefly when I got here, and felt good while doing it . . . until I didn't. It took several more weeks to recover. Losing too fast is a Bad Thing, and one's own/others' quasi-religious belief in the "calculators" is a risk factor.
Apologies for the rant(s).
Your rants on this subject are always welcome @AnnPT77!! It's good for the community to be reminded not to let things be repeated to the point that they become MFP 'lore' without consideration of other possibilities
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This formula may help: [total calories consumed+(total lbs lostx3500)]/days=TDEE
I'm an MFP outlier myself, so it is helpful to figure out what my TDEE really is since MFP/Garmin try to give me a tiny amount of food which just causes me to lose even more rapidly. Turns out I need to set MFP to lose a full half pound less to get the desired results.2 -
What does MFP say your maintenance calories should be? I put your stats in a TDEE calculator and it said your maintenance calories are 1520. I’m not sure how you got to add 1500 back. You’d be regaining weight eating that much.
Presumably OP came up with adding 1500 back to get to maintenance because OP has been averaging a three pound loss a week (which presumably means an average deficit of 1500 kcals a day). Personal data and results are better than MFP or any other calculator.1 -
What does MFP say your maintenance calories should be? I put your stats in a TDEE calculator and it said your maintenance calories are 1520. I’m not sure how you got to add 1500 back. You’d be regaining weight eating that much.
If I'm losing 3 lbs/week eating 1200 calories, it would seem to me I'm at a 1500 deficit and for maintenance I would add that back, no?
@RunRutheeRun I did change MFP to maintenance and it made my new goal 1570 but that doesn't seem high enough given that I've been losing weight fast eating just 370 calories less than that.
@mmapags Thanks for running my stats through another calculator. They all seem to give me different info. I'll try 2000 and see what happens. I have a food scale but I do eat out a lot and trust the restaurant's nutritional info which I understand can be off... still I can't imagine being off almost twice what I eat but I suppose that is a possibility. I'm a big fidget-er so maybe I burn a lot more than I realize? Also I've been nearly the same weight for 20 years until I had to start taking meds for depression and gained 60lbs in about 18 months. I know its contrary to the law of thermodynamics but ever heard of anyone losing faster because they gained so fast through meds? Like maybe the 60lbs wasn't all fat?
Thanks for all the advice!
You're absolutely right. Three pounds a week means you've been eating 1500 kcals per day less than maintenance, so you should be able to add 1500 kcals to your average daily consumption to get to maintenance. Your data and results are a better indicator than MFP or any other calculator.
And given that your data excludes an initial period of loss when you weren't logging, and the data covers 7 weeks, I think you can feel fairly confident in it. You should be prepared for an initial weight jump when you go back to maintenance, as your body tops off glycogen stores, which require water.1 -
What happens to total weight and avg weekly weight lost if you drop the first 2-3 weeks of stats (first week easily extra water weight), in order to give yourself a solid 4 weeks hopefully not related to expected water weight fluctuations?
And then for those weigh-ins marking the 4 weeks - were they valid to minimize known water weight changes?
Morning after rest day eating normal sodium levels, not sore from last workout.
If end of 7 wks was invalid, move the 4 wk window back.
Then do your math which is decent idea. Because agree with above, current math sounds rather high for decently sedentary - almost as much as me outside of exercise.
Great idea above to get trend-weight to suck down extra data days.5 -
Excuse me while I fan girl, but huge thanks to all and especially the long-timers for chiming in. I mean, @Nony_Mouse your post is the whole reason I even know about diet breaks! You guys are helping so many peps become healthier, so props. I’ll update when I reach the end of my diet break with more data.3
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How do you decide when to take a diet break, I have been logging for bit more than 12 weeks, average 2 lbs per week. I am still 40 lbs away to my goal weight. Should I only do diet break it if I plateaued or struggling? I am scared if i eat more it would break my good streak with following the diet.0
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Wow! You are lucky to have 2700 calories
I am 5 ft tall. I have lost 17.6 pounds in last 11 weeks. I weigh 144 (same as yours). What is your ideal weight?0
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